First PT, here we GO!

By Cadet Nicholas Lenkman

It all starts with receiving the shorts…I take a look at them and start to laugh. Given my stature, being quite tall, I always feel like I am bringing back the 1970 Larry Bird short shorts look, now I actually have short shorts! Just give me some sport goggles and a basketball and I’d be set.

Now when I arrived at the Simon Rec center I had no idea what to expect. I was confident that it couldn’t be that bad. After all, I’ve been playing competitive sports my entire life and I know I can handle a hard work out.

We started by being called to fall in and of course I was standing in the wrong place! This being my first PT session and also my second week in the ROTC program, I’m still in a learning process here.

After we stretched we had to pair up and grab a mat. I was paired up with Cadet Byrd. Nothing’s more intimidating and/or more challenging than being paired up with an older cadet that knocks out 62 pushups in a minute. All I thought about while I awaited the “go” command, was “how do I follow that?” Well, I followed it by cutting it in half with a solid 31. Not the number I wanted, but for the first PT after a well needed month long break I’ll take it. The same thing happened with the sit ups too. He set the bar high and I came in at half. This didn’t discourage me because I was, and am, confident that I will only improve on this as the weeks go by. Those two tests make up the baseline for our PFA. Which gives me a good starting point.

After we recovered for a few seconds we were told of our next challenge, a relay race. This was the best part of PT. It was here that I really start to understand the wingman concept. The race consisted of four legs down and back with each cadet doing the drill once. The first leg was a wheel barrel down to the far wall. Once there both cadets did 20 push-ups. The second leg was a fireman’s carry with 15 sit ups in between, then back the other way. The third leg was a crab walk with your partner holding your feet up. This one we only had to go to the half way mark before we did 4 count lunges. The last leg was a sprint to the end and 10 jumping jacks.

After all that, it’s safe to say “yeah I can be pretty bad” but now I know what to expect. And no! I am in no way discouraged!

All in all it was a fine work out. I enjoyed it and look forward to more.